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The INSTITUTE OF CONTINUING HEALTHCARE ­EDUCATION and healthcare simulation technology [...]

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On The Cover

Uncovering the Value of Late-Phase Trials
Finding Added Value in Late-Phase Research Postapproval studies are becoming bigger and more expensive. As a result, ­pharmaceutical ­sponsors are looking at other ways to use the data generated from these studies to create value for their organizations. Postmarketing studies are becoming increasingly important as regulatory agencies demand more long-term data, which proves efficacy, safety, [...]

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Denise Myshko

Features

The Era of Biosimilars
Although healthcare reform paved the way for a regulatory pathway for biosimilars, the ­biopharmaceutical industry is facing a world of uncertainty as developers and regulators ­navigate their way through this shifting ­landscape. Biosimilar Defined » A “biosimilar” is a biological product that is highly ­similar to the reference product notwithstanding minor differences in clinically inactive [...]

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Denise Myshko

Showcase Feature — IRBs Watching the Protectors
Ever-changing clinical-trial regulations and continued growth in multicenter and international studies have resulted in an exponential increase in the volume of data generated for IRB review, including large numbers of individual adverse event (AE) reports, which often lack the context and detail needed for full analysis and thus limit the IRB’s ability to ensure patient [...]

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Carolyn Gretton

Skill, Science, and the Art of the Conversation
Shifting marketplace dynamics have created unprecedented challenges for pharma industry sales organizations. Increasing hurdles to physician access, governmental and industry constraints on promotion, competition from generics, and diminishing degrees of differentiation among products have combined to force companies to rethink their approach to selling and customer engagement. To survive and thrive, today’s sales representatives must [...]

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Jennifer Munsie, Ph.D., M.S.W. and Rob Lytle, M.B.A

Focus on Specialty Reps: From Information Source to Information Connector
TGaS Advisors Training & Development Practice There is a jump in demand for data on specialty sales areas, including oncology, biopharma, and niche therapy markets. As primary care recedes in relative importance in many — though not all — companies, large-tier companies are focusing more on high-performance specialty brands. The change is not just in [...]

From KOL to COL: Regional Influencers are Critical to Commercial Model Re-invention
The commercial model in pharmaceutical sales is under dramatic pressure that necessitates a radical shift in how drug companies interact with key customers. Primarily, marketers must explore more effective conduits for accessing physicians who have organized into ever more complex networks and now resist — or are restricted from — traditional relationship-building approaches. The Shifting [...]

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Kelly Myers, CEO, and Al Reicheg, Chief Commerical Officer, Qforma

Showcase Feature: Sales Training in Transition
As the pharmaceutical industry transitions to new customer-centric models, a complex payer ­environment, and higher-level technology, the traditional sales representative role is shifting to that of a key account manager, and training models are evolving accordingly. Trends such as the increasing influence of payers, the imminent patent cliff, ever-increasing promotional restrictions, and the rise of [...]

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By Carolyn Gretton

Privyet! Russia: Growth and Opportunity
With its promise of expansion, its population of around 140 million potential customers, and a pool of highly qualified staff, Russia has long been recognized as an important market for pharmaceutical companies. The pharma market in Russia has shown stable annual growth of 13% to 20% for several years, and growth forecasts for 2011 range [...]

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Kim Ribbink

KOL Mapping: The GPS of Thought Leader Identification
Mapping charts the quickest route to finding the right KOLs. With all of today’s technology-driven data capture capabilities, there is a lot of thought leader information to be garnered, but all that knowledge is only as good as its relevance. KOL mapping serves as a guiding tool that cuts through the layers of information to [...]

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Robin Robinson

Minding the As & Qs of Lead Gen Technology
Augmented reality (AR) may sound new, but actually it has been around for at least 10 years, reports say, and it is the recent uptake in smartphone use and capability, along with funding from the Recovery Act, that have pushed AR to the front and center of pharma marketing plans. Using a smartphone, everyone now [...]

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Robin Robinson

Letter from the Editor
The Price of Success THE COST OF INNOVATION. The recent article published in the Feb. 7, 2011, issue of the journal BioSocieties for The London School of Economics and Political Science is causing quite a stir. The authors — Donald W. Light of Stanford University and University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and [...]